9:30 Club, Washington, DC

The Barabarians show in DC was excellent. I was surprised that Ian didn't pull out a Cult favorite for the crowd, which clearly consisted of Cult fans. I'm glad he didn't, since The Barbarians rocked on their own terms, and did play The Witch, which I'd never heard the Cult play. I was impressed with Ian -- he's still got some serious lungs, and the rest of the band had great spirit (they all seemed happy to be aboard the Astbury-train, if their gigantic smiles were any indication). So, The Holy Barbarians get a double thumbs-up from DC -- a HUGE thumbs-up.

John - jslavin@wam.umd.edu